Fractured Saints - never beyond mending - a christian blog for the broken ones

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been reading Brett McCracken’s book Hipster Christianity. It’s a pretty good book overall, although I personally think Brett could have done more research for the chapter on the emerging church. And he does suggest that social justice is just another fad. But Brett does bring up some good points.

For example, near the end he explains the differences between authentic Christian cool and being a self-righteous hipster jerk. Hipsters, as Brett explains, are all about individualism. Everything they do is a self-conscious attempt to be better and cooler than the average square (do people still say “square?”). Jesus, on the other hand, calls us to be other-centered instead of self-centered. He’s less concerned about how “cool” you are than how loving you are. Jesus says the world will know we are His disciples if we love one another, not our Macbooks or our TOMS shoes or our iPods full of Sufjan Stevens tunes (all of which I own, by the way).

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I can be a hipster snob. I’m not one of those kinds of people who want all eyes on them, like Paris Hilton and Michaela Salahi. But I don’t want to fade into the background, either, so sometimes I consciously pick out clothes that I hope will make people think, “Wow, that guy’s cool!” But why should be so concerned about looking cool, when I’m supposed to show God’s love before anything else?

Of course, there’s the other extreme, and that’s getting so wrapped up with church culture that we don’t know how to communicate the Gospel to our peers.

I think the thing to remember is balance. Paul often used culture to help preach the Gospel (1 Corinthians 9:19-23), so I don’t think it’s wise to completely divorce ourselves from culture. I love my Macbook, TOMS shoes, and Sufjan Stevens records just as much as the next guy. However, at the end of the day I don’t serve those things. My main job is to love Jesus and love others, period.

As I ran at the gym this morning, I noticed advertisers must think 1 of 2 things about those people who are up at 5 in the morning. Either we need a better mattress or we need to get in shape. I have seen my share of workout and diet commercials, but no matter how many I see I know that having the resources doesn’t produce results, only using the resources you have will be of benefit.

Even though I know that is true I still buy things in hope that owning them will produce results. I wonder how many bowflexs and thigh masters are sitting in a closet gathering dust right now. I wonder what percentage of folks look like the guy in the bowflex commercials or have thighs off…..iron? And then there’s the shake weight, I’m sure that flew off the shelves for mothers day… never mind.

I feel the same way as a Christian here in America. I feel like we have the most Christian resources at our disposal between the book stores, tv & radio stations, and even our own music industry. But from what I hear we are also the most stagnant church, the slowest to help those in need, the slowest to love past our areas of comfort. So I guess my question is do we need more Christian resources or do we need less stuff and more Christ?

“I cant do that, I have this thing”, “I have to work”, “I have to take care of the kids”, “I have to wash my hair”. I have a tendency to complain about things, after they have passed, that I could have done but didn’t. But there is no one to blame but myself if I miss out on something. It’s a matter of priority. I can’t complain that I don’t have time to do something and then two breaths later say that I am playing more video games these days or watching more movies. We dedicate our time to what is most important to us. We very rarely spend our time doing what we don’t want to.

The more I am learning to catch myself doing this, the more I am trying to figure out what is important to me and what should take priority. I find it’s tough, to change my selfish habits and do what I should and maybe not really what I want. How do you delegate your time?

Originally posted on my personal blog.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I try not to talk about politics much because:

1). I’m not educated enough to articulate my views in an intellectual manner, only short sarcastic remarks.

2). I end up getting into shouting matches with the Tea Party folks.

But there is also a third reason why I try not to talk about politics much: too often politics prevail over grace.

In politics it’s not enough to simply explain why your viewpoint and your agenda and your policies are better than the other guy; you have to drag your opponents through the proverbial mud. You have to paint your opponent as not just naive or misguided, but a subscriber to the deadliest ideology since fascism. You have to make people believe a vote for your opponent means a vote to let the bad guys take away your civil rights and human dignity.

And unfortunately, I’ve seen way too many self-described Christians let their politics prevail over speaking words of love and grace. To them, Christianity is no longer about looking after the widows and orphans (James 1:27), but tearing apart liberals, gays, Muslims, etc.

For example, La Shawn Barber. I know I got into some trouble for talking about her before, so I don’t want to say much (plus I’d be a total hypocrite if I tore her apart). But it does disturb me to see some one with such a heart for God use her words not to praise Him and build up others, but to tear apart liberals and anyone else she disagrees with.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are times when we, as Christians, need to speak up against things that go against our values. And there are times when we need to gently correct one another. But the keyword here is gently. As the Bible says, “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” (2 Timothy 4:2, emphasis mine) It’s so sad that there’s hardly any room for this left in politics.

And, yes, I am just as guilty as Barber. It’s hard for me to say this, but I sometimes use my words to tear people apart instead of building them up. I’ve used my tongue to praise my point of view instead of God. I love being right, even when I’m wrong. And anyone who knows me knows this is an ongoing struggle.

So here’s my question–is there a way to talk about politics in a loving, graceful manner? Can we forget our political affiliations long enough to act like Christians?

Entitled – to have proper grounds for seeking or claiming something

Salesmen can be pushy, but telling me that I work hard and am entitled to something pushes a bad button for me not a good one. I guess because entitlement is one of the ultimate forms of selfishness in my eyes. It’s saying that regardless of the needs or actions of others this thing is deserving of my resources more then anything else. Whether its giving of my time to watch tv or giving of my money to get a new big tv, using the word entitled is a negative thing to me.

I know people who say that because they work hard they deserve to do …. fill in the blank, but the only think you deserve for working hard is payment for your work and the satisfaction of knowing you’ve done it. Whether you spend that money all on yourself to make your life more luxurious (because that old 46 inch tv just isn’t as nice as that new flat-screen you can hang on the wall) or to help someone else have something to eat has nothing to do with how you made the money or how deserving you are of it. Its all about where your priorities are. Are your desires the most important things in your world?

I picked big things which rub me the wrong way and that I can easily identity. Cars, houses, and other luxurious items are easy for me to point out, but I do wonder where I still feel entitled in my life. What I still feel like I have the right to have.

I learned yesterday that the people of Haiti are once again in danger. The 250,000 people who have been without homes, living under bed sheets held up by sticks, may have trouble surviving the upcoming rain season. People have been living in dried creek beds and ravines which fill during the flood season. Also many of the tents or coverings are not water proof. One lady interviewed said that during the last storm her family ended up standing all night.

And here I am praying for the things I “need”. I use the term need in quotes because the only reason I need most of the things I “need” is to maintain my current standard of living, not to maintain my life. I’m glad God continues to bless me but I feel like only knowing blessing in my life has blown my calibration on how greatly I am blessed.

I love advertisements. I’ve taken marking in college and a couple of advertising classes and read books about both. I know copywriters and know how it works at least I thought I did. I thought you pointed out qualities in the product that appealed to the needs or desires of the consumers. You thinly covered all this with something catchy and memorable. Maybe just maybe you stretch the truth about the product to make it sound a little better then it really is.

But that’s not whats happening here. Best Buy’s “You, Happier” and BMW’s “Joy is BMW” don’t point out any characteristics about the products instead they focus on a deficit in society. Depression in the US is on the rise and has been for a while, so you know what, we as companies will market ourselves as the next best thing to anti–depressants. It rubs me wrong that we have moved from stretching the truth to bold face lying. Do you think this kind of advertising is weird or is it just the only place left advertising had to go?

Yes yes Dr Horrible came out like 20 years ago. Why am I writing a post about it now? Well it just came up in my itunes shuffle (yes I own the soundtrack). But listening to it this morning got me thinking. I think the thing that I love about Dr Horrible is the evil of the good guy and the goodness in the bad guy.

It reminds me so much of Christianity. The Captain Hammers of the church look great and they do everything so everyone knows how great they are. But then there are the broken ones, the ones who don’t try to pull together their image. Now granted this is where my little comparison kinda falls apart a little, but let me try to pull it together. Dr. Horrible wants to get into the Evil League of Evil (the cool kids in his circle. He wants to fit in and does things that he doesn’t really want to for acceptance. I am the same. I do things that I normally wouldnt act ways I normally don’t all for approval from others.

So who are you most of the time a Captain Hammer or a Dr. Horrible?

I’ll admit it, I am a sucker for updated versions of hymns and gospel.

Patty Griffin is releasing an album of mostly gospel covers.  I have listened to most of it and think that the album as a whole is pretty wonderful.  But the song that makes me love it is a cover of “All Creatures of Our God and King.”  The traditional hymn credited to St. Francis.

You can listen here (or probably a lot of places):

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122500765

I think there’s something wrong with me.  Christmas is a week away, and yet I don’t feel the way I’m supposed to.  Don’t get me wrong, I am preparing my heart for celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, but something’s missing.  It seems that no matter how hard I try, I just can’t get angry whenever I hear phrase “Happy Holidays.”

Believe me, I tried.  I really did.  I spent hours watching Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, and listening to James Dobson’s “Focus on the Family,” but it just didn’t work.  In fact, whenever some one wishes me a happy holiday, I automatically smile and say, “Same to you.”

Yeah, I know!

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I don’t care about keeping Christ in Christmas.  Far from it!  I just think we have bigger things to worry about than the phrase “Happy Holidays.”  For starters, “Happy Holidays” really isn’t such a bad expression.  It’s basically a short way of saying “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Hanukah,” “Happy Kwanzaa,” and “Happy New Year” all at once.  There’s certainly nothing wrong with wishing everyone a happy holiday, whatever that holiday is, is there?

To me, the biggest problem we Christians have to face during the Christmas season is not the phrase “Happy Holidays,” but the increasing consumerism that’s taking over the meaning of Christmas.  On Sunday mornings during the Advent season we sing “O Come O Come Emmanuel,” preparing our hearts for our Savior’s birth.  By Sunday afternoon, however, we’re running around the mall ducking and dodging the other shoppers on our quest to grab the latest hot gift before they’re all sold out (or no longer on sale, whatever comes first).  At church we greet each other with “Peace be with you,” but at Target we grumble “Watch where you’re going!” to each other as our shopping carts nearly collide.  I don’t know about you, but I have a feeling this wasn’t what the angels had in mind when they sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

But then again maybe I just have my priorities mixed up.  Maybe the phrase “Happy Holidays” really is part of the radical Left’s socialist agenda to destroy Christianity, or something like that.  Either way, have a very merry Christmas . . . or a happy holiday.